Ava Turned 2!

Yikes, where does the time go? I still can't believe it's already been a little over a year since we created images to commemorate Ava's first birthday. And now this little princess is already two. Well, 2 and change, really - her birthday was a couple months ago, but we pushed out her session a time or two, but this way we also were able to do some Pulitzer-worthy Christmas card images while we were at it. If you're friends of the Gaonas, check your mailbox around Christmas time to see this beautiful family.

I'm so glad we waited. The weather yesterday was fantastic, and so was Ava - a diva starter-kit for sure. She's already melting hearts, so watch out boys.

Here's a couple sneak peek images for mom and dad. Click images for larger previews.


































I love this image. Such a rockin' outfit... and a matching suitcase! Are you kidding me? How cool is that?

Drive-By Instant Classic

We don't get much fall color here in Dallas which is to say if you want to see some red, orange and yellow leaves you better call someone up north and have them ship them down.

This was a fun image from when we were driving around Nashville. I just slowed down the shutter speed a bit, pointed the lens out the car window at some passing trees, and presto... instant masterpiece. Monet-Schmonet... poor guy spent days and weeks painting his timeless Impressionist classics. Mine took 1/8th of a second.

Just Plain Fun

I love this image from a recent session with BA and his daughter, Emily. The 'love junkie' graffiti on the wall is so appropriate... BA is a self-proclaimed addict to his little girl.

That's all, just wanted to share this little piece of gold.

Rolling Through Nashville

Kylie and I went to Nashville last weekend to have some fun in the Music City. The weather couldn't have been better and the city had a quaint, welcoming feel to it. Between the Grand Old Opry, the "Batman Building", downtown Nashville, Music Row, Vanderbilt, Bicentennial Mall, Percy Warner Park, historic downtown Franklin,Centennial Park, and a host of other things to see and do, there's never a shortage of things to do. Oh yeah, and did I mention all the rolling hills. Beautiful!

Oh, and I wish I had a photo from the Pancake Pantry. We ate breakfast at this legendary establishment near Vanderbilt on Friday morning, and while we unfortunately didn't see any country music stars during our visit, apparently it's not uncommon to be eating pancakes next to folks like Keith Urban or Leann Rimes when you're there. In fact, I can't confirm this, but I overheard the waitress tell another table that Jessica Simpson was in that day before we got there. Hmmm... wonder if she had to wait n line, too?














These were big columns in Bicentennial Mall (btw, it's a park, not a shopping mall in case you were wondering what these columns had to do with shopping) that chimed every hour and every 15 minutes (and sometimes seemingly just whenever). They played "Rocky Top", too. Fun stuff.




























This is the courthouse in downtown Nashville. They actually have night court here, and apparently it's a popular date night event. What?











Here's the view from the hotel room inside the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Pretty nuts isn't it? Amazing how freakin' big this place was and how they've built these little cities inside.

The NEW Reagan Era

The baby wagon made a stop at Michael and Amanda's last week and dropped off a brand new, shiny little girl. I got to meet miss Reagan Adelle Styer last weekend when I was back in Ohio for a little getaway, and let me tell ya, she's a keeper. She's beautiful, likes to eat all the time, needs lots of attention, and loves to sleep... truly a girl after my own heart. Watch out mom and dad... this one's gonna attract a lot of interest from the boys when she gets a little older.

What a blessing that she was born into such a solid family. Schrode and Amanda are wonderful people, and Reagan will never lack for love and guidance. Grandma and Grandpa Styer were there for a bit when I stopped by this weekend, too, and you could just tell they're hooked on this little girl. In fact, when grandma heard I was stopping by and had my camera with me, she hinted that baby Styer was billboard material. Too sweet. You've got it good, Miss Reagan.

Well, it took a little while for her to warm up to the camera (literally I think she cried every time the camera came out for the first 30 minutes), but after a couple new diapers and a little food, Reagan finally found her happy place and fell right to sleep. Here's a few images we stole while she was napping.

As always, click images for larger previews.

PLEASE READ! - I didn't forget you...

... I just didn't know you e-mailed.

If you've e-mailed me in the last week and you haven't heard back, rest assured I'm not ignoring you. My hard drive headed south a little early for the winter and is apparently never coming back. While I had backed up my data relatively recently, any e-mails I received in the last week or so are part of the data that's gone... vanished... forever... for good. If you were one of the lucky ones to send an e-mail recently, it would be awesome if you'd resend that e-mail again, and I promise we'll get back to you. Thanks so much!

All Things Vintage

I love old things. Period. If it's got a hint of nostalgia to it, I'm a fan. If it reeks of time gone by, even better (hamburger meat notwithstanding). Weathered barns, rusted out cars, trains, rail road tracks, faded signs... these are a few of my favorite things... to photograph (sorry for putting the song in your head). I was back 'home' in Ohio this weekend and had a chance to get lost out in the country to do some photography, and although I was a little too early for the fall color, I still found a few things reminiscent of days gone by during my favorite time of year. Here's a couple more of my favorites. Click on an image for a larger preview.

Also, speaking of Ohio, my HS buddy Schrode and his wife Amanda give birth to their first baby last week, and she is so precious. Stay tuned for a few images of little Reagan this week.

The World We Live In

My friend, Tina, sent this to me a while back, and I'm just now getting around to posting it. I'm not a huge politics guy, and I know some people will skip this video as soon as they see Newt talking, but his message is clear and concise and really made me stop and think for a while about how much we take for granted and much we continually put our freedom at risk with each act of ignorance or worse yet, indifference. We live in a society that is so afraid to offend anyone that we may not - if we're not careful - ultimately be able to protect anyone in the end.

See-attle {slideshow!}

I'm finally resurfacing after spending some time in Seattle last week. Such a cool city... so much character, and so many things to see. The weather was unseasonably sunny to boot. In fact, in the 8 days I've spent in this city over my lifetime, it's really only been gray and drizzly one day. I think the miserably rainy persona Seattle has is perpetuated by it's own residents as marketing ploy to keep everyone from moving to this beautiful city.

I was travelling with my buddy Robin this week as we were visiting with a group of Seattle teachers to observe how they're using a new product we've been working on for Texas Instruments. While we were there we got to meet up with Trace and Christie who moved to Seattle from Dallas about a year ago, and they took us to a couple of their favorite local hang-outs. Too cool.

My favorite stop was a little hole in the wall place called Beth's Cafe. Very "homey" with hand-sketched scribbles and artwork from customers covering all the walls. I don't know how else to describe the food at this place other than to say when I ordered my omelette, they next question our waitress asked was, "You want a 6 egg or 12 egg omelette?" I almost fell asleep just thinking how stuffed I was about to be.

Here's a few of my favorite images from the trip. Check out the slideshow of all the images at the end.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Brent ('BA') was one of the winning bidders on a custom photography session from an Alzheimer's Association charity auction event earlier this year, and the weather finally cooled off (sort of) enough for us to capture some father/daughter images in Old Town Plano recently. Both BA and Emily are the sweetest people you will ever meet... just 'good peoples' if ya know what I mean.

And BA is one of the most dedicated and caring dads I know. Such a nice guy; it's easy to see why this dad and his little girl have such a genuine, natural relationship.

Here's a few fun images from our session.

Invaded!

This video is a testament to the slacker generation. Is it productive? No. Is it for a cause that will benefit society? Negative. Is it educational? Ummm... not a chance. Is it 2 minutes of meaningless, mind-numbing entertainment that you will never get back. Absolutely.



Haven't wasted enough time yet? Try Pole Position and Pong. Retro fun!

I've been tagged... again... and again

Remember the game of tag you played as a kid? Yes, of course you do - consider that a rhetorical question. Well, like most things from the back-in-the-day era, a new version of this classic game of hit-and-run has evolved for big kids. And like seemingly all things in our big kid lives, it involves technology to even get in the game.

For several months now, this new viral version has been spreading like wild e-fire through the professional photography blog world, and recently I was tagged by Jen, Barbie, and Marlo.

The Rules
Post the rules before you give the facts. Then post eight random facts about yourself that few people know. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag 8 other people and list their names leaving each person you tagged a comment on their blog letting them know that they've been tagged.

The [Forgettable] Facts
Prepare yourself to be underwhelmed.

1. I never gauge well the amount of paper towels I'm going to need. Tear off one square and I spill something and have to go back for more. Tear off 3 squares "just in case" and I barely get so much as drizzle of ketchup on the corner of one. I've tried the select-a-size rolls, too, thinking more size options would make it easier to manage this dilemma. More choices = more waste. It's an on-going struggle.

2. I'm an obsessive counter. Seriously. I'm always counting and memorizing random things in my everyday existence. It's 19 steps from my 2nd floor apartment to the parking lot below. The seat belt warning in my car consists of 25 mind-numbing 'dings' that go off in succession for a stretch of 6 seconds every 45 seconds until I put my seat belt on. When I stayed in Philly recently, it was 433 steps from the front door of the Hampton Inn I stayed at to the front door of Chili's. Scary, I know. I could continue, but let's move on.

3. I received a nomination from then Ohio Congressman, Mike DeWine, to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy (also known as Kings Point) after high school. Kings Point is the least-known of the 4 major military academies, and probably the one you've never heard of. The other 3 are West Point (Army), Annapolis (Navy), and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It was a pretty competitive screening process and kind of a big deal that I got selected, but I only stayed 3 weeks before deciding it wasn't for me. At the time, the decision to leave was the toughest I had faced in my life and ultimately led to a dark, painful time in my life for a while back home.

4. To this day I have sequestered and locked away all-known evidence of this, but I was once chosen to be Mr. June in a local radio station's "Men of Dallas" calendar contest. I'm still emotionally scarred from the rightful harassing I received from my 'friends' for that gem in my past. (yes, I was completely clothed for the calendar image in case you were wondering. Give me a little credit here... I may have been naive, but I wasn't completely insane.)

5. I love Fruity Pebbles. Always have. Always will. Yes, I'm 34 years old, and, no, I don't care.

6. I'm generally shy and uncomfortable around new and/or unfamiliar people. Perfect characteristic for someone who photographs new people all the time, I know. Yup, I've grown up being a little insecure/unsure of my abilities and intimidated around people I don't know. This is a daily challenge for me, but with the grace of God and a good group of amazingly supportive friends and loved ones, I'm making strides and learning to spread my own wings.

7. In elementary school, I stretched the truth a bit [read: I blatantly lied] and told Michael Styer (Schrode) my family owned a hot air balloon so he'd think I was cool and invite me over to spend the night at his house so we could play Atari Football and Frogger. The only thing I owned with hot air back then were the words coming out of my mouth. Sorry I fibbed, Schrode, but hey, thanks for inviting me over! Besides, the way I see it, I think we're probably even given the manner you threw me under the bus in your desperate love letter to Connie Vanover.

8. I'm a self-taught photographer. As a kid, it never crossed my mind for even a second to write "photographer" in the blank at the end of the "When I grow up I want to be a ..." question. Now, an artist? Different story. Watching Bob Ross every day after school create those 30 minute masterpieces on PBS with 'happy trees' and 'VanDyke brown'- how could I not want to grow up and be like Bob. Although even back then, I knew I didn't want Bob's haircut. Did they not have a stylist for that show?? I digress. Nope, other than an elective black and white darkroom class at Ohio State, I never studied photography in college either. I've always been doing something creative, and I guess I was always kinda curious about photography, but honestly I don't know why or what caused me to decide to do it on a professional level. I think one day a little over 2 and a half years ago, I was simply talking to a co-worker about photography and I saw an ad on the internet for the new Nikon D70 back then and thought, 'Hey, I could do this.' So I played for a while (still am), did lots of experimenting (still am), went to a few workshops and seminars (still do), stalked a lot of other photographers' blogs (still do), and presto - here I am. Thanks to Laura Chambers for being brave enough to give me that first chance to take her family's Christmas photos back in December of 2004. (BTW, Laura, I'm sure you could tell, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing... thanks for not calling me out on it.)

Bonus Factoid. I've broken 3 bones in my life, and none of them were mine. In 8th grade I tackled Kari Ihns from behind in the snow just trying to be funny... she never got up. Yup, broken femur. Nice strategy for showing a girl you like her, eh? My junior year at a HS girl's basketball game, my buddy Adam pulled a chair out from underneath me as I was sitting down, and during the less-than-graceful descent, my flailing hand struck a women from the opposing HS's team square in the mouth and broke her front tooth. Her husband was very large and scary. That same year at another girl's basketball game, I was playing a game my basketball coach had taught us and jokingly punched (seriously, it was a game) a buddy as he ran past me. He tried to duck to avoid me and my fist landed squarely on his collar bone. Ummm... oops.

The Tagged
Considering 1) hardly any of my friends even have blogs and 2) most of the photographers I know - due to my slow e-reflexes and delay in responding - have already been tagged, this is the hard part. So if your name appears below, and you've already been tagged, my apologies. I didn't see any "no tag back" clauses.

Okay, I've only got 7, but you're 'it':

Schrode, Tina/Trinity, Martha, Brooke, Sara, Marie, Alicia, Paige

Blair's Bridals {slideshow!}

Here's the slideshow from the bridal session we did with Blair recently. Beautiful bride. Beautiful location. Beautiful images.

HUGE!

This is a test of the emergency blogcasting system. Below you will find mesmerizing imagery and may experience the urge to cash in the college fund for the kids and splurge on a ridiculously expensive and completely on a whim vacation to Europe. This is only a test.



You may now resume normal blogcasting.

Okay, the title may have oversold the content of this post a bit, but hey you're reading this aren't you? Just testing a new method of posting bigger images. I love this image from Stockholm a couple years ago.